We took a run to Wal-Mart this morning for a few items before going to check out the Overlooks of the Gap. We drove along River Drive (PA 611) for 2 miles through the Delaware Water Gap. The heavily wooded road climbed into the hills and followed the Delaware River. There were lots of trees, so we couldn't get a good look at the river from the road. Our first stop was the Resort Point Outlook where a 25-guest room hotel overlooking the Delaware River was built in 1832. A fire claimed the hotel in 1931 and all that remains today is the view. Except now that the trees have all grown up, the view is gone. Here is an old picture of the hotel that I found to show how it looked as it sat atop the bluff.
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The next stop was the Point of Gap Overlook.
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This overlook is in the heart of the Gap between Mt. Minsi in PA and Mt.Tammany in NJ. From the outlook, we could see the "gap" cut between the two mountains. Notice the "V".
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The last stop was the Arrow Island Overlook.
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In the early 1900's this was a tourist stop. There was a park called Minsi Mountain Park, a hotel with cottages, and a quarry known as the "Grotto" which boasted of clear waters found in the Minsi Health Spring. There was also the Bear Stop roadside attraction featuring caged bears and deer for tourists to see. The Bear Stop was once located in the parking lot where we parked today. Again, there was no view of the island due to the trees. We had to use our imagination. It was disappointing to say the least. We drove a little further on the highway hoping to find a spot to view the river, but had no luck. We did discover this abandoned bridge. It was such a beautiful structure over the river.
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We were desperately looking to get a good view of the Delaware River, but it was difficult from the PA side of the river. We jumped on I-80 and crossed the bridge into NJ hoping to find a view.
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We found a place where we could actually walk down to the river. It was a canoe, raft, and boat launch at the Kittatinny Point Visitor's Center.
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We walked down to the water where we discovered some people canoeing and floating on the river.
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The river wasn't moving very fast, but the "floaters" seemed to be enjoying themselves. From there, we jumped back across the river into PA (after paying a $1.00 toll) and took the 10-minute drive to the borough of Delaware Water Gap.
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We were meeting our friends, Pam and Donny (originally from Wisconsin), at the Sycamore Grill for lunch.
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They live on their boat full-time and are currently located in Jersey City, NJ about 90 minutes from our campground. Pam and I made arrangements to meet there yesterday after I found the restaurant online in the area. Amazingly, we all arrived in the parking lot at the same time. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch and got caught up on everything that's happened in our lives since the last time we saw them in Jan. or Feb. of 2018 when they were in Jacksonville.
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With good friends like that, no matter how much time has passed between us, we can always pick up just where we left off. It was so great to see them!
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We said our goodbyes after a couple of hours and went back to the campground. Auggie was waiting for us and I gave Auggie a kiss on the lips from his pal, Donny, just like I promised. Auggie and I sat outside enjoying the coolness of the shade, working on my blog and catching up on some emails, etc. Bob and I were both full from lunch, so we didn't cook anything for dinner. If we get hungry later, we would find something to munch on. We leave for Lake George, NY, tomorrow, so I started to put things away in the trailer for our departure in the morning. My pantry needed some re-organizing, so I finally got around to doing that. Today we are starting our second week of vacation, but it seems like we've been gone a lot longer than that. Our drives from here on out will be shorter in duration/distance to each new location, which will be nice. Life is good!